Self-Practicing Upper Body Exercises With a Robotic Trainer System

The training will be conducted in a designated area in the physical therapy hall. After completing the consent form, participants will be asked to fill pre-experiments questionnaires including demographic information as well as details about their profession, education, and other personal attributes, Negative Attitude towards Robots (NARS) questionnaire, and Technology Adoption Propensity (TAP) Questionnaire. The physical therapist, together with the patient, will choose specific strengthening and flexibility exercises from multiple options according to participant's ability and training goals. The physical therapist will explain about the system and how it works prior to the beginning of the session. In addition, to ensure that each patient can access their customized training, each patient will be assigned a unique number before the first session, which they will use to log into the system The patient together with the physical therapist will schedule the time for the patient to self-practice with the system, 3 times per week for 3 weeks. A training session begins with the robot introducing itself, and the participant sits in front of the robot. The robot will demonstrate upper body exercises and will provide verbal instructions and feedback (e.g, number of successful repetitions, motivational). At the beginning of the session, the participant will be asked to follow the robot's demonstration and simultaneously perform the exercise. At the end of each exercise, the robot will provide feedback. If the participant successfully performed ten repetitions of the required exercise in the demonstration time allocated, positive feedback will be provided. Resistance (strengthening) exercises for the upper body include lifting weights, working with resistance bands in different directions involving the upper extremity and trunk. Flexibility exercises include upper extremity and trunk stretching. Rest breaks will be provided as needed during the session. Participants will be able to stop the training at any time. During the training, the system will collect data regarding the success of the exercises in excel files without any identifiable data. When completing the training program, the users will be asked to fill in questionnaires. During all training sessions, a physical therapist will be present in the room to provide guidance and supervision, ensuring that the exercises are performed correctly and do not induce pain or fatigue. The therapist will also review the kinematic data collected in each session to monitor progression and adjust the program (such as increasing or decreasing exercise difficulty). After each session, the participant will be asked to rate his perceived rate of exertion using the Borg scale (0 to 10 scale) on the robot's screen and will be offered to start the training session from the beginning.

Inclusion criteria

• 18 years ≤ Age
• stable clinical and metabolic state
• ability to sit without back support independently
• ability to understand research instructions.

Exclusion criteria

• A contraindication to perform active upper extremity movements
• Severe pain that limits the ability to exercise.